On Tuesday, Starbucks began serving its holiday beverages, with the return of its Chestnut Praline Latte, Caramel Brulée Latte, and Peppermint Mocha.But one seasonal mainstay -- the chain's iconic red holiday cup -- didn't return with the classics.

Instead, customers found themselves being served festive drinks in green cups. The cups feature an illustration by Shongo Ota featuring the faces of more than a hundred people, drawn with a single continuous line.

"The green cup and the design represent the connections Starbucks has as a community with itspartners (employees) and customers," Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz said in a statement. "During a divisive time in our country, Starbucks wanted to create a symbol of unity as a reminder of our shared values, and the need to be good to each other."

While fewcanargue with the new cups' message, some customers took to social media to complain and express confusion about the lack of red cups, which Starbucks typically reveals in early

There are many things buyers should consider when purchasing a new home – is it close to their work? A good school? What’s its walk score? But should a property’s past be considered as well?

If living in a house that is rumoured to be haunted, or where a traumatic death has occurred, might bother you, then yes, you should ask up front about the home’s history. There is no law in Canada that states sellers must disclose information regarding past events, so it’s up to the buyer to protect themselves.

“The law basically says to a buyer, ‘buyer beware.’ Do your homework; sellers don’t have to disclose it,” says Mark Weisleder, a Partner at Real Estate Lawyers.ca LLP, a real estate law firm in Ontario.

He does say that real estate agents, under their own code of ethics, might have to disclose whether a home has a troubled past. However, buyers nervous about an unsavoury history affecting their property’s worth should protect themselves by looking into it

Amazon chalked it up third-quarter its earnings miss to aggressively building out new fulfillment centers and investing heavily in video. Source: Reuters

Amazon’s third-quarter earnings missed Wall Street estimates, sending shares down 5% in after-hours trading. But according to the Seattle-based e-commerce giant, there’s a very good reason why it whiffed on profits.

Indeed, during Amazon’s third quarter, the company built 18 fulfillment centers — the very same warehouses where many orders are filled. For the entire calendar year, Olsavsky said he expected Amazon to finish building 26 fulfillment centers in all.

“The last year we added double-digit fulfillment centers was 2012,” Olsavsky pointed out on the call.

Indeed, it’s worth noting that when Amazon funnels its revenues into aggressively building out

A letter penned by John Lennon to the Queen explaining why he was returning his MBE and found in a $16 car boot haul has been valued at $97,000.

The letter was discovered in the sleeve of an old 45 vinyl single, one of a number of old records purchased by the anonymous owner some 20 years ago.

It was brought to a valuation day at Liverpool’s Beatles Story andhas been described as an “incredible find” by music memorabilia expert Darren Julien of LA-based Julien’s Auctions.

The letter reads: “I am returning this MBE in protest against Britain’s involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts.”

It is signed “With love, John Lennon of Bag”.

It is thought the letter may well be a draft of the one Lennon actually did send to the Queen in 1969.

Mr Julien said: “We have seen some fascinating pieces of memorabilia during the event. However, this is a real stand out piece. I believe this letter has the

This past week we learned that PepsiCo is finally turning against sugar. But the soda giant's sudden interest in nutrition is not as unexpected as it seems.

On Monday, PepsiCo announced that by 2025, two thirds of its drinks will have 100 calories or fewer from added sugar, per 12 oz serving. Currently, these types if sugary beverages make up 40% of PepsiCo's drinks.

While the news may seem like a shocking move for a soda company, it's part of a wider trend in the beverage industry, driven in large part by a need to turn around sales as soda consumption declines.

In 2015, the total volume of soda consumed in the US dropped 1.2%, compared to a drop of 0.9% in 2014,according to Beverage Digest's annual report. The amount of Coca-Cola consumed by Americans dropped by 1% by volume, while Pepsi Cola dropped 3.2%.

A big reason for the decline of soda is a growing body of scientific evidence highlighting the harmful impacts of excess sugar consumption. While Americans consume 30% more sugar

Navigating the airport with your baggage could soon get a bit easier, thanks to an invention by a California company.

Travelmate Robotics has created an autonomous suitcase that will trail you by tracking the location of your smartphone.

The Travelmate is designed to tail owners by three to five feet (0.9 to 1.5 metres) and rolls behind them – upright or on its side — much like BB-8 or R2D2 dutifully follow their human counterparts in the “Star Wars” films.

While the device won’t be able to keep up with a human who is running to catch a flight (the average human can reach 24 kilometres an hour), with a top speed of nearly 11 km/h it can exceed most people’s walking speed, which is about 5 km/h.

Travelmate Robotics has launched an Indiegogo campaign to raise funds for commercial production and plans to offer the mobile luggage in

Wall Street is aiming for a rebound. All three major averages were sharply higher after a rally in global markets and better-than-expected quarterly results from Goldman Sachs and Netflix.

Goldman Sachs (GS) shares were up sharply in early trading. The Wall Street bank reportied stronger-than-expected earnings and revenue for its quarter ending September 30th. Profit soared about 58% driven largely by revenue from bond trading, commodities, and currencies, which jumped 34%.

Netflix streams success

Shares of Netflix (NFLX) surged after the company delivered earnings on Monday that blew away Wall Street expectations. Revenue also topped estimates. The streaming video giant added 3.2 million international customers during the quarter—far more than the 2 million it had forecast. But is the pop it got from international expansion sustainable?

Karen Collacutt recently went through a tough break-up. Her bank, it seems, just wasn’t that into her – or rather, it wasn’t that into having her business.

“The bank my husband and I had been working with was a smaller (one)… their hours got less and less and their technology wasn’t up to par,” explains the certified financial planner and founder/prosperity coach at ProsperologyU. “It was becoming really difficult to work with them and so we went through this process of: how are we going to change and how do we change?”

Like any relationship breaking up with your bank can be hard to do; there are a lot of moving parts, a lot of things to consider. That’s why Collacutt advises anyone considering making a change to fully examine the root problem first.

“When you have a challenge with a bank, the first thing you want to do is see if you can resolve the problem,” she says.

Typically, the main concerns Collacutt comes across amongst clients are related to customer service or technology.

[nuTonomy beat Uber and Google to the punch, launching the world’s first self-driving taxi in Singapore in August. (IB Times)]

The weirdest taxi ride I’ve ever experience happened a few years ago on my birthday on one unusually warm winter night in Toronto.

The driver passed around a tambourine so passengers could accompany his (bad) singing as he rambled on about the local tourist attractions.

Unfortunately, the music distracted him from his primary responsibility and my companion, a visitor from a smaller city, nervously leaned over to whisper “Is this normal?” in my ear. “Absolutely not,” I replied, nervously watching the road as we lurched back and forth between the streetcar tracks and the other curb .

I wish I had a photo of that bizarrely-decorated car to show you, but that night I was more concerned with seeing my next birthday.

When I was getting cold feet after signing the purchase agreement for a home a few years ago, I confessed to my family that I was feeling sick about owing that much money.

“That feeling will go away as soon as you put the ‘For Sale’ sign on the lawn” was their reply. Gulp.

For most people, buying a first house or condo is exciting and a big leap into adulthood. But it doesn’t take long for the cold hard reality of mortgage payments, taxes and unexpected repairs to set in.

Mortgage rates have been low for years now — long enough for young buyers to think that rates below 3 per cent are normal, but historically speaking, they’re not. It’s enough to tempt buyers who should probably save a little more and build their credit rating before buying their first home, but the rush to get into the market can leave some buyers at the mercy of unscrupulous or even criminal agents.

There are a number of ways homeowners can become victims of real estate scams:

Trying to become a first-time homebuyer in the Greater Toronto Area’s red-hot real estate market has been one of the most challenging experiences of my life. My fiancée and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but we had no idea it would be quite this hard.

We’ve lost bidding wars time after time in heart-wrenching fashion and went through the emotional roller coaster that goes with potentially making the largest investment of our lives. It’s become clear to us that getting a house in this market requires a lot of patience and a bit of luck.

Before we started, we wanted to make sure we were doing everything responsibly. We paid off our debts and saved up for a down payment. We got pre-approved for a bank mortgage and set a budget based on what we could afford. We contacted a reputable realtor and decided on what would best suit our needs. We went in with open minds that were eager to learn and ready to act.

We quickly realized that if we liked a place, we weren’t going to be alone. Agents

The sympathetic would include other wanna-be homeowners who have watched the affordable pockets of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) close up as the city’s home prices have risen more than 15 per cent over the past year alone, and roughly doubled over the past decade.

Many opt for the commuter approach, buying in Pickering, Markham, Newmarket, or other ‘G’

Does your mood swing up and down with the TSX? Does the price of oil keep you up at night? If you’ve got your finger on the pulse of the business news scene in Canada, then this quiz on the week’s top business stories should be a breeze.

Legal fees, disbursements, discharging the current mortgage, capital gains taxes… selling a home often comes with an abundance of seemingly never-ending costs that can send your stress levels soaring, lighten up your wallet and often make you wonder why you thought selling was even a good idea in the first place. It’s no wonder more and more people are looking to save a few bucks when it comes to one of the most expensive costs—realtor fees.

With the advent of so many DIY property-selling sites in Canada, listing your own home has never been easier or cheaper. Sites like PropertyGuys, ComFree and ForSaleByOwner offer all-inclusive, flat-fee packages priced anywhere from $400-$800, and can include exposure on popular property-searching sites like Realtor.ca. These companies promise to help inexperienced owners price, promote and negotiate the sale of their homes, all while potentially saving tens of thousands of dollars in realtor fees.

[NEW YORK, NY - SEPTEMBER 13: Traders and financial professionals work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) ahead of the closing bell, September 13, 2016 in New York City. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 258 points on Tuesday. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)]

It’s like that unexpectedly chilly day in mid-September when you really know summer’s over.

For investors, what had been a good summer on the stock markets came crashing to a halt on Sept. 9 when stocks dove after comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve raised worries that U.S. interest rates might rise sooner than previously expected. The following Monday, Asian markets did the same.

Of course, with the U.S. election just weeks away, markets are as prone to overreaction as ever. But the coming U.S. rate hikes are just part of what some say is a turning point for several central banks, as Japan may be trying to push its long-term rates higher and there is uncertainty about how long the European Central Bank

Apple’s iPhone 7 and 7 Plus are officially here and offer welcome updates to their already excellent predecessors. But the smartphone market is larger than just Apple (AAPL). Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone maker, LG, HTC and Motorola all released impressive smartphones this year, as well.

So with a plethora of new handsets on the market, one question remains: Which is the right one for you? Well, I’ve got the answer. Whether you’re looking for a big-screen, a huge battery or just the best handset for your buck, these are the best smartphones you can buy.

All-around best smartphone

Up until, oh, let’s say the moment the iPhone 7 Plus was unveiled, if you had asked me what the best smartphone you could buy was, I’d have told you Samsung’s Galaxy S7. And if you said otherwise, I’d have challenged you to a fistfight, which I would then have immediately tried to weasel my way out of.

The iPhone 7 Plus.

But I’m changing my tune, and preparing for the delicious Twitter hate I will

Some people keep their model car collections on display in their homes, but if you’re an ultra-wealthy gearhead living in Miami, you buy a separate house specifically designed to show off your vehicles – at least, that's what one new company is hoping.

AutoHouse, which bills itself as the “ultimate private showcase and members-only club,” is planning on constructing a condo building in the city’s downtown whose only tenants are luxury cars and motorcycles.

The seven-storey project will house 45 units, or "AutoSuites," with prices starting at $350,000 – or roughly the average cost of a four-bedroom home in Miami – for a display space designed for two cars, and reaching as high as $1.5 million for 2,200 square feet, according to CNN Money.

Units can also be combined, or buyers can take over entire floors, which would accommodate up to 55 cars.

These glorified parking garages will also offer around-the-clock security with a web-based surveillance system allowing owners to check on their

Even the snobbiest of shutterbugs can’t deny smartphones are getting much better at taking photos and shooting video.

Over the years we’ve seen larger sensors to let more light in, more megapixels for greater detail, better image stabilization for sharper pics, faster processors to handle the task at hand and better all-around battery performance.

But even with these advancements, there’s still one obvious shortcoming to smartphone photography: the lens. There’s no optical zoom to get closer to a subject, nor is there good support for macro shots (extreme close-ups), fisheye support, or wide-angle photos on most phones.

In response to these shortcomings, there’s a growing market for lenses as an accessory, which clamp onto the phone’s existing lens.

They sound like a great idea, but are they just a gimmick?

We set out to see for ourselves, and also enlisted some help from a professional photographer.

While businesses may be able to cut down on lines and make shopping easier by using self-service checkouts, they may also give thieves “ready-made excuses” for stealing products, according to a recent study.

The report, authored by professors Adrian Beck and Matt Hopkins of Leicester University, collected data through interviews with staff, security experts, app developers and visits to stores from four major retailers (two from the U.S., one from Belgium and one from Holland).

It also examined statistics on nearly 12 million shopping trips from the four retailers between December 2012 and February 2015.

The study indicated that the use of these self-service technologies and other apps used to make purchases lead to a loss rate of nearly four per cent, more than double the average.

Losing revenue is never good news for a business, but it seems even worse in light of the fact that a typical profit margin among European grocers is three per cent.

Canadians often have to deal with the stereotypes about the Great White North when speaking with foreigners: ‘No. We don’t live in igloos. Yes. It is cold but not that cold.”

But sometimes these assumptions work out in our favour. Take for example Dani Reiss, the CEO of Canada Goose, who was at a tradeshow in Germany during his early days at the company, when he realized that Europeans trusted Canadian-made outwear to withstand the rigors of a frigid environment.

“For them, the connection between outwear designed for the coldest places on Earth and the Canadian climate was obvious,” he told Yahoo Finance Canada in an email.

The company, originally called Metro Sportswear Ltd., was founded in a small warehouse in Toronto by Reiss’ grandfather, Sam Tick, nearly 60 years ago, and its goose-down parkas, jackets and other accessories are still made in Canada.

But for Reiss, the benefits of manufacturing its products in Canada go beyond their air of authenticity.

Canadians consume marijuana. They smoke it. They eat it. They use its extracts and derivatives.

Statistics Canada found that 43 per cent of Canadians over the age of 15 have tried the drug and 33.5 per cent have used it more than once.

Furthermore, in a 2015 poll by Forum Research just under one-fifth of participants, or 18 per cent, admitted to having consumed the drug in the past year, with an added 13 per cent saying they would be more likely to do so if it were legal.

And with Canada lurching towards legalization, many businesses are looking to get into the market, including Canada Post.

A task force studying the floundering Crown Corporation released a 94-page discussion paper earlier this week that found “fundamental and transformational changes” are need to save it from having to be propped up by taxpayers.

One of the changes suggested was the distribution of marijuana across the country by Canada's postal service, with its more than 6,200 post offices and pickup locations also

Nearly one million of the 26 million credit-active Canadians could be in for a “payment shock” if the Bank of Canada ups its interest rates, according to a new report by credit information giant TransUnion Canada.

A 0.25 percentage point increase to the Bank of Canada’s Target Overnight Interest Rate, which currently stands at 0.5 per cent, would cost nearly one in six borrowers an extra $50 a month, while a a one percentage point increase would tack on a $50 or more charge for 40 per cent of Canadians with a variable rate mortgage or line of credit with $50 more a month.

While the central bank has given no inclination towards boosting rates anytime soon, the record lows the Bank of Canada has maintained – down from a high of 4.5 per cent in 2007 – are meant to stimulate the economy and are apt to rise in tandem with recovery.

For the seven million Canadians with a line of credit or variable-rate mortgage, preparing for those increases means focusing on the larger debts like your

Our prisons are filled with people with psychopathic traits - but boardrooms around the world are actually just as bad, a new study has found.

Roughly one-fifth of corporate professionals have ‘extremely high’ levels of psychopathic traits - the same level found in prisons.

That compares with 1% among the general population.

Psychopaths - according to the standard Hare Psychopathy Checklist - are charming, impulsive, and fail to take responsibility for their behaviour.

They’re not necessarily murderers - but they’re good at looking after themselves, and not good at looking after others.

Researchers Bond University in Australia and the University of San Diego examined 261 professionals in supply chain management - and found that 21% had ‘clinically significant levels of psychopathic traits’.

‘Too often companies look at skills first and then secondly consider personality features,’ says Nathan Brooks of Bond University.

It seems like just yesterday we were all being promised amazing new technology and the best phone yet with the release of the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus. But like youth, technology is fleeting. And so here we are again, this time on the verge of complete iPhone 7 pandemonium. Anxious Mac-lovers are already plotting lineup survival at their local Apple stores so they can be among the first to get their hands on the new devices when it goes on sale September 16, effectively stashing away their old ones to gather techno-dust.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

If you’re among those who are looking to upgrade your phone, here are just a few things you can do with your old device.

Transform it into an alarm clock

Naw, we’re not talking about just setting the “Clock” function every night. Download one of the many alarm clock apps out there, and personalize it depending on what kind of a sleeper you are. Need to know that the apocalypse is coming in order to wake up in the morning?

Dairy producers in Australia, the European Union, Mexico, New Zealand and the United States are pushing for their respective governments to take Canada to task over a new deal between farmers and the dairy industry that they say violates their international trade obligations.

In a letter released publicly on Monday, the dairy associations said the new deal places Canada in contravention of its World Trade Organization (WTO) and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) obligations and called for their respective governments to initiate a dispute settlement proceeding through the WTO.

The groups said the new deal -- which was agreed upon by the Dairy Farmers of Canada and the Dairy Processors Association of Canada in July -- favours Canadian dairy ingredients over imports and subsidizes the export of local products to “unfairly compete” with those abroad.

“Canada’s increasingly protectionist policies violate their international trade obligations, hold out the prospect of trade

Saudi Arabia or Walmart? India or Apple? Switzerland or Berkshire Hathaway? Social justice organization Global Justice Now ranks the world's countries and companies based on their 2015 revenue in U.S. dollars.

GURGAON, INDIA – DECEMBER 8: Cyber city in office hub witnesses a low visibility due to air pollution on December 8, 2015 in Gurgoan, India. (Photo by Priyanka Parashar/Mint via Getty Images)

Art has often been used as a medium to raise awareness about pollution but an India-based startup is taking the concept further, creating paint and ink from the pollution itself.

Developed by self-described chronic inventor Anirudh Sharma via Graviky Labs, a spin-off from MIT media labs, the idea for Air Ink grew out of a conversation between the researcher and his peers about the stains left on their clothes by heavy air pollution.

“We built this contraption that we connect the exhaust on the tail pipe of the car,” explains Sharma in a video about his invention. “After we are done capturing the raw carbon, the soot, we take it through a purification process and then we convert that air pollution into printing ink.”

He points out that the same process can be used with boats or chimneys to capture

After a difficult summer that saw the newspaper lay off more than 50 employees and reveal that it posted a $24.3 million loss in the second quarter of 2016, the Toronto Star is hoping to capitalize on a traditional morning routine to change its fortunes.

On Monday, the country’s second-most read daily newspaper announced that it is launching a new service called Headline Coffee, which brings its readers in the Greater Toronto Area “high-quality, ethically-sourced ground or whole-bean coffee,” each month at the cost of $20.

“Toronto residents love their coffee and they love reading the news,” states the press release.

“Now, the Toronto Star is matching coffee lovers and one of their favourite pastimes with the launch of Headline Coffee."

The newspapers said 75 per cent of its readers enjoy a cup of a coffee while enjoying the Star's content.

The service promises to bring its users a new coffee from a different part of the world each month.

Picking the right line at the grocery store can make a world of difference.

It is a split-second decision that could end, ideally, with the patrons in front of you breezing through the checkout and you getting out of the grocery store stress-free, or it could be a nightmarish experience that leaves you frustrated by the impossibly slow pace of the people in front of you and with an intense grumbling in your stomach as you long to get home and whip together the array of delectable ingredients in your cart.

The line that will lead you to a quick escape, however, may surprise you.

Dan Meyer, a former high school math teacher and chief academic officer at Desmos, told the New York Timesthat the key to getting out of the store faster is getting behind a shopper with a full cart rather than a line with numerous people with fewer items.

In his research he has found that on average it requires 41 seconds per shopper to say hi, pay, say goodbye, gather their things and leave the area, while

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